Astrological board game apparatus

ABSTRACT

A game using principles of astrology with a game board divided into twelve &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;houses&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; of the zodiac. Each player moves his playing piece around a circular portion of the game board in response to a thrown die and various instructions on the game board and on cards drawn by the player. The object of the game is to be the first player to ascend up &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;jacobs ladder&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; into &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;paradise.&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; Landing upon the various spaces of the game board subjects the players to negative and positive reactions to either a bad or good &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;aspect&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; that may be expected from a particular planet as it traverses each house of the zodiac. The playing pieces correspond in shape to the players&#39;&#39; houses of the Zodiac on the game board.

United States Patent Chambers ASTROLOGICAL BOARD GAME APPARATUS 645,661 11/1950 Great Britain 273/134 AD Primary Examiner-Delbert B. Lowe ABSTRACT A game using principles of astrology with a game board divided into twelve houses" of the zodiac. Each player moves his playing piece around a circular portion of the game board in response to a thrown die and various instructions on the game board and on cards drawn by the player. The object of the game is to be the first player to ascend up jacobs ladder into paradise. Landing upon the various spaces of the game board subjects the players to negative and positive reactions to either a bad or good aspect" that may be expected from a particular planet as it traverses each house of the zodiac. The playing pieces correspond in shape to the players houses of the Z0- 2 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures [76] Inventor: Marian W. Chambers, 2458 Romain y East Point, Ga. 30344 T Attorney James A. Hmkle [22] Filed: Nov. 15, 1971 [57] [21] Appl. No.: 198,558

[52] U.S. Cl. 273/134 C, 273/134 D, 273/137 R [51] Int. Cl. A63f 3/00 [58] Field of Search 273/134, 135

[56} References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 971,871 10/1910 Woodruff 273/134 D 2,128,608 8/1938 Goertemiller.... 273/134 C 3,650,534 3/1972 Collett 273/134 AE 3,652,092 3/1972 Boyer 283/134 C FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS v diac on the game board- 749,851 5/1933 France 273/135 AA 6 35 34 33 361 (37 a 5. 03 "36 FUNERAL BANK 8 5 g;

PATENTED JAN x 5m SHEET 1 (IF 3 3 3 (I 4 3 rl moor: manila BANK A /mm O FUNERAL g U w zmnmmm mw 520 7 W 250:8 7 Q Low 7 M 2 o n M 1 2.5m 2 Iozm Q 2383? 4 1! (SE. 0 4

FIG. W

PATENTED @5985.

SHEET 3 6F 15% 84/ 34; i4 l44 v TUITION $560.00 TRAINTNG SEQDDO VALUE $1266.56

FRIEND EDUCATION JOB CAR I REBATE $l0000 BONUS $|00.00 TRADE IN $IOOVOO S45 346 547 548 VALUE $200.00 POLICY $300.00 FEE $200.00

MATE HOME RETIREMENT PAY WILL RESALE $l00.00 REFUND $l00.00 TRANSFER $|O0.00

SMART BACHELOR SOCIAL CARD CARD SECURITY PAY $ID0.00 1F MATED BABY CARD BACHELORS PAY $200.00

I ASTROLOGICAL BOARD GAME APPARATUS This invention'generally relates to a game board apparatus and moreparticularly to a game involving astrology and astrological principles.

Various board game apparatus have been in general use heretofore, especially one utilizing principles of barter, trading and bargaining. However it has been found that a game based upon astrology and its interpretations has been lacking.

Therefore, the present game uses the principles of astrology to move playing pieces around a playing circle which is divided into 12 evenly divided sections, or segments, representing the ancient concept of the heavenly zodiac. A basic objective of the game is to move each'playing piece to thefinal position of paradise" by gathering vtogether necessities which can'be acquired by purchase orwon while playing the game. Each individualized playing piece has its own individual instruction to follow according to the marked board spaces. In addition, negative or positive markings are utilized to show the various reactions to a bad aspect or to a good aspect" that may be expected from each planet when the planet traverses each house of the zodiac.

Further, the game is so designed that an object thereof is the deemphasization of money as a playing point and it is only used as an extra attraction and has no particular importancein the actual winning of the game. This particular game is intended to challenge the imagination of those to whom astrology is a fascinating study of influence and reaction. However, this game differs from other games in that the. playing pieces have no control over other playing pieces, and each player is playingagainst pure chance of the throw of the die.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the game board of the present invention;

FIG. 2a shows an enlarged plan view of one of the twelve houses, or sections, of the game board;

FIGS. 2b 2l show an enlarged plan view, in tabular form, of the peripheral area of the remaining eleven houses, or sections, of the game board;

FIG. 3 shows a typical card from each of the eight sets of necessity cards;

FIG. 4 shows a typical card from each of the three sets of alternate cards;

FIG. 5 shows a typical certificate of money used in the present game;

FIG. 6 shows typical cards from the four sets of influence cards;

FIG. 7 shows typical cards from an additional two sets of extra alternate cards;

FIG. 8 represents the playing pieces for the game; and

FIG. 9 shows the special playing die for the game.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts thoughout the several figures, the present game generally consists of a game board 11 having an area of circular configuration divided into a series of twelve evenly spaced houses. Each of these houses is a segment of the circular game board radiating outwardly from the center thereof and each represents one house of the zodiac on the present game board. The houses, for easy reference purposes, are numbered 12-23 and are identified as Aries 12, Taurus 13, Gemini 14, Cancer 15, Leo 16,

2 Virgo 17, Libra 18, Scorpio 19, Sagittarius 20, Capricorn 21, Aquarius 22 and Pisces 23.

The perimeter of the circular portion of the game board 11 is ruled off into a playing area 24 along which the various playing pieces are moved during the game between each of the various houses 12-23. Each of the twelve houses are divided from one another by a jacobs ladder 25 which is divided into a plurality of evenly divided spaces leading from the playing area 24 to a central area of the board known as paradise" 26. As a convenience to the players, the game board may be manufactured in any desired shape. However, the playing area of the game board is circular and the mat upon which the board is located is ruled to delineate other areas which are functional for the purposes of the game. For instance, there are four rectangular spaces for the four sets of playing cards utilized in the present game. These particular groups represent the basic elements and areidentified as fire signs 27, earth signs 28, air signs 29, and water signs 30. On the side of the game board 11 corresponding to the Aries house 12, there is an elongated ruled section 31 for the alternate sets of cards. On the opposite side of the game board corresponding to Libra, there is a ruled section 32 for the necessities sets of cards. Within the alternates section 31 there are ruled sections shown as smart card 33, bachelor" card 34, social security card 35, a bank 36, baby card 37 and funeral" card 38.

The necessities section includes ruled sections shown as friend card 41, education card 42, job card 43, car card 44, mate card 45, home" card 46, retirement pay card 47 and will card 48.

FIG. 3 shows representative types of the necessities cards 41-48 and it should be noted here that each of the eight sets of necessity cards have 12 different individual cards. FIG. 4 shows three sets of the alternate cards, which are used on spaces 3335, wherein each set also has 12 individual cards. These cards are identified by numerals 55, 56, and 57. FIG. 7 shows two extra sets of cards which are normally placed in the alternate section, and specifically in the funeral card space 38 and the baby card space 37. Each of these two sets of cards also will have 12 cards per set and representative cards are indicated by numerals 58 and 59.

FIG. 6 shows the sets of influence cards 51, 52, 53 and 54. Each of these four sets of influence cards are designed to be placed upon one of the rectangular signs areas 27, 28, 29 and 30 when the game is played. As noted previously, the game board has two ruled areas shown as alternates 31 and necessities 32. Each of the various ruled spaces within these two areas are designed to receive one of the stack of playing cards, just described, which the players use while playing this game.

Referring to FIGS. 4,5 and 7 there are shown the various cards which are to be placed in corresponding locations upon the alternates section 31. These particular cards in turn, are identified by numeral 55 for the smart card and the others are shown as bachelor" card 56, social security" card 57, funeral" card 58 and baby" card 59. In addition there is located in the alternate section 31, the bank 36, which is designed to be the repository of the money utilized in the game. An example of the money is shown in FIG. 5 and is indicated by numeral 60. The particular significance of all of the various cards enumerated above will be detailed later during a discussion of the fundamentals of playing the described game.

As a further description of the influence cards 51-54, it is known in astrology that there are four basic elements. These elements are said to be earth, air, tire and water. Each element has certain influences over each person and each of the twelve houses of the zodiac are known to be influenced by a particular element. Therefore, the relationship of the elements and houses of the zodiac may be associated as follows:

Element Houses of the Zodiac Earth Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn, Air Gemini, Libra, Aquarius, Fire Aries, Leo Sagittarius, Water Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces,

As a convenience factor in actual use, the various influence cards may be colored to represent the elements. Such colors may be brown for earth, blue for air, orange for tire, and green for water. Therefore, it can be seen that there are four sets of influence cards with each set having three groups in order that each group will represent one of the three houses associated with that particular element. Since each of the planets move through all l2 houses of the zodiac, then each of the three groups must have 12 different influence cards both positive and negative) to influence a player in each house. As an example, take the element earth which is known to comprise the planet Venus which rules Taurus. Therefore, Venus would have a card in all twelve houses, one example of which is card 52 showing Venus in Aires. Of course, since Venus and Mercury rule two houses, there would be double sets of these cards corresponding to their respective influences.

FIG. 8 shows 12 playing pieces which are utilized in the game and which are indicated by numerals 61-72. These particular playing pieces may be of any particular construction deemed advisable. However, they should be of a three'dimensional nature and generally conform to the configuration of each of the symbols of the ruling planet for a particular house. For instance, playing piece 61 represents the trident design of the ruling planet Neptune of the house of Pisces. Correspondingly piece 62 is the ruling planet Mars of the house of Aries. Playing piece 63 represents the ruling planet Venus of the house of Taurus. Piece 64 represents the ruling planet Mercury of the house of Gemini, and piece 65 indicates the ruling planet Pluto of the house of Scorpio. Further, playing piece 66 shows the ruling planet Jupiter of the house of Sagittarius, and piece 67 represents the ruling planet Uranus of the house of Aquarius. Continuing through FIG. 8, piece 68 depicts the ruling planet Moon of the house of Cancer, and playing piece 69 shows the ruling planet Mercury of the house of Virgo. In addition, piece 70 represents the ruling planet Venus of the house of Libra, and playing piece 71 indicates the ruling planet Saturn of the house of Capricorn while piece 72 is indicative of the planet Sun of the house of Leo. It should be noted that playing pieces 63 and 70 are identical to one another while pieces 64 and 69 are likewise identical. This duplication is common in astrology since the number of celestial bodies in our solar system does not equal 12. The reason is that in astrology the generally accepted number of houses has virtually always been thought to be 12, however, the corresponding number of planets in our solar system has never been proven to equal that number. Consequently, common useage dictates that the planet Venus is the ruling planet of both Taurus and Libra, whilc Mercury is the ruling planet of both Gemini and Virgo.

FIG. 9 represents the playing die 73 which is utilized in the present game to move the playing pieces about the playing board. Instead of dots on the playing die, as is common, the present game contemplates that a representative five pointed star 74 be placed upon the die in desired locations to represent the value of the thrown die. Referring once again to FIG. 1, it can be noted that the peripheral edge of the game board playing circle is ruled for a plurality of playing spaces 75. On the particular embodiment described here, each of the 12 houses has 10 playing spaces around its distal peripheral edge. Consequently, this means that there will be 120 playing spaces about the peripheral edge of the playing circle. Referring more particularly now to FIG. 2a there is shown a complete segment of the house of Aries 12 and a complete representation of every playing space 75 at its periphery. In addition, FIGS. 2b-2l show all of the playing spaces 75 within the other 11 houses. As can be seen from the playing spaces represented in FIG. 2, some of the spaces 76 are intentionally left blank. When a player's playing piece lands upon these particular spaces no action is required of the player.

However, some of the playing spaces have written instructions thereon with which the player must abide if his playing piece lands upon such a space. For instance, in the house of Aries playing space 77 illustrates this point by having indicia that indicates youre too fat! pay reducing salon $50.00. If a player should land upon this particular space it would mean that he would have to repay the Bank $50.00 from his personal playing bank. However, should a player's playing piece land in the house of Scorpio upon the space indicated by numeral 78 he would receive a $100.00 income tax refundpayable from the Bank. In some of the houses, such as in Virgo shown in FIG. 2f, the player may possibly land upon space 79 which is entitled work. As noted before, landing upon such a space as this would entitle'the player to draw a card from the necessities section card stack 43 under job."

In all of the particular 12 houses there are spaces with positive and negative symbols. For instance, if the player should have his playing piece land in the house of Libra upon space 80 or 81, as shown in FIG. 23, the player, as the case may be, would have to draw one of the influence cards shown in FIG. 6. The particular card depends upon several things, but basically the player would pick his ruling card for the house in which he landed. For instance, should the player be playing the Aquarius house, it is known that Aquarius is ruled by the planet Uranus. Consequently, should the Aquarian land on the positive influence space 80 in the house of Libra, then the player must draw the Uranusin-Libra card from the air sign stack of the four stacks as shown in FIG. 6. As each of these stacks of influence cards will rest upon respective areas 27, 28, 29 or 30, the player must pick from the correct stack. Therefore, since in our example the player is an Aquarian he falls under the air sign and his particular positive influence card must come from the air stack of influence cards upon space 29. And since he landed upon the positive influence he would then read from the card the instructions for positive influences concerning his next move of his playing piece. Should the player, in the examples just recited, have landed upon the negative influence space 81 in Libra, he would then still pick the same card but would be forced to comply with the instructions under the negative influence of that card.

As can be seen from the various sub-figures of FIG. 2, there are several different types of spaces upon which a person may land with his playing piece and the spaces give certain instructions for the player to perform. In addition, as has been noted, each house has both a positive and negative influence space and certain of the houses each have a space for a necessities card should the player land upon that space. Turning again to FIG. 2a it can beseen that between the peripheral playing spaces 75 and paradise 26 there is the jacobs ladder 25 which has 12 individual playing spaces. The players playing piece must traverse these spaces between spaces 75 and paradise 26. At the distal end of the jacobs ladder, with respect to paradise, is a space which is the bottom of the ladder and is represented by a stylized foot 82. At the proximal end of the ladder are the pearly gates 83, through which the players playing piece must pass to paradise. Two of the spaces 84 and 85 have a symbolic lily 86 to indicate that the player gets a funeral card for landing on this space.

In playing the game two or more. players are desirable, however, a practical maximum for the game is 12 players since the game is designed for 12 zodiac houses with 12 playing pieces. Generally the game begins with each player choosing the playing piece of the house of his choice. He is given his birthright of $500.00 from the Bank. While money is to be deemphasised in this game, it is still necessary to have money in actual life and, therefore, its necessity in this game is also recognized. The player under the house of Aries'will always start the game and all players will move counterclockwise upon spaces 75 about the circular portion of the game board. Each of the players roll the dice in turn and move their playing pieces the number of spaces 75 indicated by the roll of the dice. All of the players continue counterclockwise around the board until they have eight of the necessities cards or their alternates. Certain ones of the necessities may be won through the influence cards and others must be picked up from the spaces 75 on the circle. The players may turn in spare necessities cards as part payment for some others, however, mate and friendv cards 45 and 41 respectively must be won through playing since they may not be bought at any price.

The player must continue around the circle until he has all eight of the necessities or their alternates. When the player comes around to his starting point he may turn and ascend jacobs ladder 25 if he has the required cards. However, in going up jacobs ladder the players are only allowed to use one die in rolling for movement. If, by the time the player reaches the pearly gates 83, he has not picked up a funeral card then he must go back to the foot 82 of the ladder and try again. Funeral cards are only gotten by landing upon space 84 or 85. If the player does not land upon either space during his ascent, he must start from the bottom of the ladder until he lands upon one of the funeral card spaces and secures a funeral card. Once having received a funeral card, the player is eligible to pass through the gates 83 upon proper roll of the die. Therefore, it may be thought that the funeral spaces 84 and 85 are impediments to movement into paradise 26.

What is claimed is:

l. A game board apparatus utilizing concepts of astrology for a plurality of players in which playing pieces are moved around a game board in accordance with chance means comprising, in combination, a game board having thereon a circular playing area divided into 12 equal segments radiating from a central area, each of the segments bearing an identifying indicia cor responding to one particular house of the zodiac, the peripheral edge of the circular playing area being ruled into a plurality of equal sized playing spaces, certain of the playing spaces having instruction bearing indicia thereupon which instructs players whose playing pieces land thereupon to perform certain acts which include drawing instruction bearing cards, zones radiating from the central area interconnecting the central area with the peripheral edge area and providing a boundary line between said segments, the zones being further divided into a plurality of spaces by which the players playing pieces move from the peripheral edge spaces of the circular playing area into the central area, each zone corresponding to a particular defined zodiac segment and adapted for use by only the player having a playing piece corresponding to that house of the zodiac, the game board further including a plurality of additional indicia bearing spaces separated from the circular playing area upon which instruction bearing cards are adapted to be located, said other indicia bearing spaces which are separated from the circular playing area including a rectangular space juxtaposed to each of four corners of the game board, a plurality of elongated indicia bearing spaces being located on two opposite sides of the game board, each of the rectangular and elongated spaces adapted to receive playing instruction cards thereon to be drawn by the players in accordance with instructions from landing upon particular spaces in the peripheral edge of the circular playing area, a plurality of three-dimensional playing pieces of distinctive shapes corresponding to the respective houses of the zodiac for positioning on the game board and adapted to move in accordance with chance determining means about the peripheral playing area and into the central area by means of the radial zones interconnecting the central area with the peripheral playing area, and each of the playing pieces corresponding in shape to and representing a particular house of the zodiac on the game board and correspondingly representing a player who is playing under the influence of said particular house of the zodiac.

2. A game apparatus utilizing concepts of astrology for a plurality of players in which playing pieces are moved around a game board in accordance with chance means comprising, in combination, a game board having thereon a single circular playing track divided into a plurality of segments radiating from a central area, each of the segments comprising a 30 arc of the circular playing track, each segment bearing an identifying indicia corresponding to the symbol of the ruling planet of one particular house of the zodiac, the peripheral edge of the circular playing track being ruled off into a plurality of playing spaces of equal size, each of the playing spaces comprising a 3 segment of the circular playing track and certain of the playing spaces having instruction bearing indicia thereupon which instructs players whose playing pieces land thereupon to perform certain acts which include drawing instruction bearing cards, zones radiating from the central area interconnecting the central area with the peripheral edge area and providing a boundary line between segments, each of the zones providing twelve spaces by which the players playing pieces move from the circular playing track into the central area, each zone bearing corresponding indicia to a particular defined zodiac segment and adapted for use by only the player having a playing piece corresponding to that house of the zodiac, the game board further including a plurality of additional indicia bearing spaces separated from the circular playing track upon which instruction bearing cards are adapted to be located, the additional indicia bearing spaces including a rectangular space juxtaposed to each of the four corners of the game board, and an elongated indicia bearing space being located on two opposite sides of the game board, each of the rectangular and elongated spaces adapted to receive playing instruction cards thereon to be drawn by the players in accordance with instructions from landing upon particular spaces in the circular playing track, a plurality of three-dimensional playing pieces of distinctive shapes corresponding to the respective player's house of the zodiac for positioning on the game board and adapted to move in accordance with chance determining means about the peripheral playing track and into the central area by means of the radial zones interconnecting the central area with the peripheral playing area. 

1. A game board apparatus utilizing concepts of astrology for a plurality of players in which playing pieces are moved around a game board in accordance with chance means comprising, in combination, a game board having thereon a circular playing area divided into 12 equal segments radiating from a central area, each of the segments bearing an identifying indicia corresponding to one particular house of the zodiac, the peripheral edge of the circular playing area being ruled into a plurality of equal sized playing spaces, certain of the playing spaces having instruction bearing indicia thereupon which instructs players whose playing pieces land thereupon to perform certain acts which include drawing instruction bearing cards, zones radiating from the central area interconnecting the central aRea with the peripheral edge area and providing a boundary line between said segments, the zones being further divided into a plurality of spaces by which the players'' playing pieces move from the peripheral edge spaces of the circular playing area into the central area, each zone corresponding to a particular defined zodiac segment and adapted for use by only the player having a playing piece corresponding to that house of the zodiac, the game board further including a plurality of additional indicia bearing spaces separated from the circular playing area upon which instruction bearing cards are adapted to be located, said other indicia bearing spaces which are separated from the circular playing area including a rectangular space juxtaposed to each of four corners of the game board, a plurality of elongated indicia bearing spaces being located on two opposite sides of the game board, each of the rectangular and elongated spaces adapted to receive playing instruction cards thereon to be drawn by the players in accordance with instructions from landing upon particular spaces in the peripheral edge of the circular playing area, a plurality of three-dimensional playing pieces of distinctive shapes corresponding to the respective houses of the zodiac for positioning on the game board and adapted to move in accordance with chance determining means about the peripheral playing area and into the central area by means of the radial zones interconnecting the central area with the peripheral playing area, and each of the playing pieces corresponding in shape to and representing a particular house of the zodiac on the game board and correspondingly representing a player who is playing under the influence of said particular house of the zodiac.
 2. A game apparatus utilizing concepts of astrology for a plurality of players in which playing pieces are moved around a game board in accordance with chance means comprising, in combination, a game board having thereon a single circular playing track divided into a plurality of segments radiating from a central area, each of the segments comprising a 30* arc of the circular playing track, each segment bearing an identifying indicia corresponding to the symbol of the ruling planet of one particular house of the zodiac, the peripheral edge of the circular playing track being ruled off into a plurality of playing spaces of equal size, each of the playing spaces comprising a 3* segment of the circular playing track and certain of the playing spaces having instruction bearing indicia thereupon which instructs players whose playing pieces land thereupon to perform certain acts which include drawing instruction bearing cards, zones radiating from the central area interconnecting the central area with the peripheral edge area and providing a boundary line between segments, each of the zones providing twelve spaces by which the players'' playing pieces move from the circular playing track into the central area, each zone bearing corresponding indicia to a particular defined zodiac segment and adapted for use by only the player having a playing piece corresponding to that house of the zodiac, the game board further including a plurality of additional indicia bearing spaces separated from the circular playing track upon which instruction bearing cards are adapted to be located, the additional indicia bearing spaces including a rectangular space juxtaposed to each of the four corners of the game board, and an elongated indicia bearing space being located on two opposite sides of the game board, each of the rectangular and elongated spaces adapted to receive playing instruction cards thereon to be drawn by the players in accordance with instructions from landing upon particular spaces in the circular playing track, a plurality of three-dimensional playing pieces of distinctive shapes corresponding to the respective player''s house of the zodiac for positioning on the game board and adapted to move in accordance with chance Determining means about the peripheral playing track and into the central area by means of the radial zones interconnecting the central area with the peripheral playing area. 